Supergrass have split up. Question is, did anyone know they were still together? (Guardian)

Nearly 15 years after they released their debut album, Supergrass have announced they are splitting up. In a statement released today, the decision to end the band was put down to a "17-year itch".

The Oxford band will play four farewell shows in June, culminating in a finale in Paris on 11 June."

"In a statement regarding their decision to call it a day, the band said: "Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the years. We still love each other but, cliche notwithstanding, musical differences have led to us moving on and of course we all wish each other well in the future".

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Richard Ashcroft, ex-The Verve and now with new band RPA & The United Nations of Sound, has accidentally announced on his website that he will be playing Splendour in the Grass 2010:

RPA & The United Nations of Sound have also been added to the bills of Summer Sonic Festival in Japan and Splendour in The Grass Festival in Australia.

UK dance dudes Hot Chip are also expected to be announced as part of the Strokes-led lineup, as well as strong word on Mumford and Sons, Foals and Delphic. Jared Leto's woeful emo band 30 Seconds To Mars have also announced Australian dates precariously close to the festival, but...I don't think organisers would dare, would they?

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According to a recent interview with Reuters (via All Hip Hop Daily), Dr. Dre's long-awaited new record Detox may be inspired in part by German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk:

"I'm just keeping my ear to the concrete,” Dre revealed. “I've been listening to a lot of old 60s and 70s music. Things like Kraftwerk, and Parliament Funkadelic. I've really been listening to a lot of Kraftwerk.

Kraftwerk had a really big inspiration on the beginning of Hip-Hop,” Dre continued. “My tastes change with the season. Right now it's Kraftwerk. I'll see what happens this summer."

AHHD also pointed to Dre's old N.W.A bandmate Ice Cube being on board for the record - thanks to this blog post from Cube - and so joining the likes of Snoop Dog, Eminem, The Game and Jay-Z:

I met Dr. Dre in the studio last night. When I got there Snoop was in the booth laying the finishing touches on another classic from the dynamic duo. He played me some tracks set for the up and coming Detox record and we talked about me jumping on board the project.

Dre has said that the long-overdue record - his first since 1999's 2001 - will be his last.

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South Park creator Matt Stone has spoken to Pitchfork about the long-running offensive cartoon's music and musical guests. A couple of revelations within, most notably Thom Yorke's ease with being told "Hey man, you've got to put some feeling into it!", being shocked at Kanye West's heartfelt declaration for personal change after being called a "Gay Fish", and, most notably, the revelation of Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell:

"The one I completely remember being blown away with was Perry Farrell, who came in and did "Hot Lava". Perry, I live in the same part of L.A. as he does, and we'd met a few times. So I'd actually known him enough to say hi. And I went over and asked him if he wanted to be on the album, and he said, "Yeah, I'll do it." But he didn't know what song it was; he had no idea what he was doing when he showed up to the studio. "So you're going to sing 'Hot Lava'. We want you to sing it." Trey had sung a scratch track: "Well, it's kind of like this, and here are the lyrics." We had the lyrics printed out. Perry listened to it a couple of times. And you know that stereotype; you're thinking, "Oh, he's going to be fucked up. We'll have to do a hundred takes, and he'll make us put it together on Pro-Tools." That was what I thought was going to happen, and Perry is really nice and soft-spoken and cool and stuff. And then he gets into the booth, and then he just unleashes, like fucking... You should listen to the tapes."

Read the whole interview. It's worth it.